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223rd out of 575 books
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742 voters
The Meaning of Wife: A Provocative Look at Women and Marriage in the Twenty-First Century
Delving into the complex, troubling, and sometimes humorous contradictions, illusions, and realities of contemporary wifehood, this book takes the reader on a journey into the wedding industrial complex. Anne Kingston looks at "wife backlash," and the new wave of neo-traditionalism that urges women to marry young; explores the apotheosis of abused wives and the strange cel...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
March 21st 2006
by Picador
(first published 2004)
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Every woman should read this, married or single, because being a woman meant being a wife for much of our culture's history.
Despite the funny cover, I was worried this book would be too academic and difficult to read or that is would be prescriptive and tell me what to think, both turnoffs. While it is dense it is easy to read, and very thought-provoking without feeling heavy-handed. When you thoroughly investigate all the implications of "wife," past and present, you have a broad topic indeed!...more
Despite the funny cover, I was worried this book would be too academic and difficult to read or that is would be prescriptive and tell me what to think, both turnoffs. While it is dense it is easy to read, and very thought-provoking without feeling heavy-handed. When you thoroughly investigate all the implications of "wife," past and present, you have a broad topic indeed!...more
I've been reading this book off and on for months now, and I finished it last night. I can't decide how I feel about it. I kind of enjoyed reading it, and yet it kind of made me angry about the way the world (Western world, at least) treats both married and single women, and the institution of the "WIFE".
It kind of made me want to get married and defy the stereotypes, and then it made me want to not get married EVER.
I will be checking out some of the sources listed in the bibliography, that's fo...more
It kind of made me want to get married and defy the stereotypes, and then it made me want to not get married EVER.
I will be checking out some of the sources listed in the bibliography, that's fo...more
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As someone that is newly engaged and beginning the arduous task of planning a wedding and becoming a wife, I found this book quite fascinating. Kingston has done her homework and written an academic work but it still remains easy to read. She traces the term 'wife' throughout the ages, examining the feminist movements, delving into the social, sexual, and emotional realities in our culture forming our ideas of what it means to be a wife, to be single, and to be a woman. It's extremely hard to be...more
I really enjoyed this book. The book explores the role of the wife in society from a historical perspective and does a very good job illustrating how that role has changed over time. I think I found the book interesting because I was able to compare my views on a wife and marriage to the views the author has. I have to say that being a 17 year old “man” that my perspective on my life as it relates to marriage is dramatically different than the perspective author has. The author speaks of a time...more
This book took me a while to get through; but, I should say that any book without a plot takes me a long time to read (which is why I mostly stick to fiction!). Some of the early chapters that recounted "the meaning of wife" through history were interesting. The later chapters, however, just pissed me off all the time. Why? I didn't think that this book fully addressed the modern meanings of wife. Unless, of course, your only definition of wife is a stay-at-home-mom ready to get a big divorce se...more
This book gives an interesting historical about the role of wife over the recent years (50 or so). It was interesting to read about university presidents and how the schools started paying the wives about $65,000/year to do the stuff that the wife of a university president does. But, it's the same old story throughout the book about how the woman takes a back seat to the man's career, keeps the household running smoothly so the man can concentrate on the career that is supposed to benefit the ho...more
This is one of those books that when you finish it, you feel both wiser for the journey and completely sickened by what you've read. I recommend it for women, who need to get in touch with the history of female ownership throughout time, and I recommend it for men to get a sense of exactly what has been ingrained into the female psyche.
I will admit that it is at times, quite harsh, but like many books of this ilk, sometimes you have to read the extreme in order to better gauge the mainstream. To...more
I will admit that it is at times, quite harsh, but like many books of this ilk, sometimes you have to read the extreme in order to better gauge the mainstream. To...more
The book is very well researched and covers a lot of interesting angles of the topic of "wife" especially various movements (1950s housewives, to 1990s shoulderpadded career women to the new concept of "trophy husbands") but the book is very dense so you cannot read it very quickly.
I was disappointed that it doesn't offer much in the way of solutions, the final chapter does some summarizing but it's too little too late. Also I feel like the book really limited itself by only covering trends of...more
I was disappointed that it doesn't offer much in the way of solutions, the final chapter does some summarizing but it's too little too late. Also I feel like the book really limited itself by only covering trends of...more
A good book on the history of marriage and women in marriage. Not the best book to read a month before you get married (oops). A good book to read if you want to be happy being a single woman.
I wish she'd written it about six years later (it came out in 2004 or 2005) so she could talk about current trends like the whole giant families tv show thing (The Duggars, Jon + Kate et al) and Desperate Housewives. I also wish she'd gone into more depth about gay marriage and the role of women in it, othe...more
I wish she'd written it about six years later (it came out in 2004 or 2005) so she could talk about current trends like the whole giant families tv show thing (The Duggars, Jon + Kate et al) and Desperate Housewives. I also wish she'd gone into more depth about gay marriage and the role of women in it, othe...more
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Personally, I felt like this book didn't give me much new information, not sure what I was expecting. I put it down a few weeks ago and honestly didn't think I would pick it back up. But this morning I did (by accident, grabbed the wrong book but didn't want to get back out of bed) and well, I finished it.
I tend to be the person who follows this sort of topic via magazine articles, other books...and I even realized from my law school education with Family...more
Personally, I felt like this book didn't give me much new information, not sure what I was expecting. I put it down a few weeks ago and honestly didn't think I would pick it back up. But this morning I did (by accident, grabbed the wrong book but didn't want to get back out of bed) and well, I finished it.
I tend to be the person who follows this sort of topic via magazine articles, other books...and I even realized from my law school education with Family...more
I've picked up this book before. But because I'm surrounded by the engaged and newly-married, I felt like I should try it again.
There's this ... almost irrational anger I sometimes feel toward the wedding industry, and I've felt it ever since I registered countless brides and grooms at Williams-Sonoma. Maybe my feelings aren't irrational...
But regardless, I've never understood the advent of the bride-as-commodity, $1,000,000 wedding extravaganzas, the 'cake-must-match-the-invites-must-match-the...more
There's this ... almost irrational anger I sometimes feel toward the wedding industry, and I've felt it ever since I registered countless brides and grooms at Williams-Sonoma. Maybe my feelings aren't irrational...
But regardless, I've never understood the advent of the bride-as-commodity, $1,000,000 wedding extravaganzas, the 'cake-must-match-the-invites-must-match-the...more
Provocative Cover, Intellectual Text
Author Anne Kingston deserves five stars-plus for her exhaustive research and objective presentation of the subject. The Meaning of Wife, which is by no means a quick or light read, is well written, engaging, thought provoking and entertaining. If you are a wife, you'll find yourself somewhere in these pages. If you're not a wife, you may recognize your mother or your friends, or the woman you call your wife.
Kingston covers all the bases, beginning with the wo...more
Author Anne Kingston deserves five stars-plus for her exhaustive research and objective presentation of the subject. The Meaning of Wife, which is by no means a quick or light read, is well written, engaging, thought provoking and entertaining. If you are a wife, you'll find yourself somewhere in these pages. If you're not a wife, you may recognize your mother or your friends, or the woman you call your wife.
Kingston covers all the bases, beginning with the wo...more
An in-depth read on the history of the lauded institution of marriage that showcases it for what it has been and in many cultures still is. And don't go looking overseas. Only 15+ years ago I was encouraged to stay in an abusive relationship because "marriage is sacred." I decided my continued existence was also sacred and chose life over the institution.
We're not that far from the day when women were nothing but property, best be on our toes to ensure we continue forward
We're not that far from the day when women were nothing but property, best be on our toes to ensure we continue forward
Man, I only got like 50 pages in and this is BO-RING. Again, no sense of humor? At all? Seriously?
The title is taken far too literally (except for the "provacative" part.) It's like a super-sized essay on how the role of "wife" has changed over the years, and the contradictory things it can mean today. Gee, thanks, I've been an alive feminist with a computer for the past twenty-odd years, I know . . . stuff. Like what you just said.
Bo to the ring.
The title is taken far too literally (except for the "provacative" part.) It's like a super-sized essay on how the role of "wife" has changed over the years, and the contradictory things it can mean today. Gee, thanks, I've been an alive feminist with a computer for the past twenty-odd years, I know . . . stuff. Like what you just said.
Bo to the ring.
A well-researched testament to why I find traditional marriage, wedding rings, and replacing your own name with your spouse's absurd.
Women who rarely find themselves fitting "in the box" will appreciate this book.
Women who have never stopped to question why they want the things they want (or what they're told they should want) should read this book.
Women who rarely find themselves fitting "in the box" will appreciate this book.
Women who have never stopped to question why they want the things they want (or what they're told they should want) should read this book.
Kingston looks at the institution of marriage, the role of wife, and the transition that occurs from single woman to engaged to married. There is a focus on how advertising and pop culture in the current and continued stereotype of the wife. I was a little disappointed that the author decided to use end notes rather than foot notes. I would have liked to have been able to track what information she got from where a little better. Still, not a bad read for someone considering the role of wife and...more
Absolutely love this cover and I enjoyed holding it on the bus. The essays in this book are very well researched and written. Even though Kingston doesn't come to any conclusions about what one should or shouldn't think/do/be as a wife, she asks many thought-provoking (often rhetorical) questions. Is the power in making the choice to marry or not? To love a full-time career versus a desire to stay home and raise a family? How about being proud of being a wife and supporting the institution (and...more
I count my blessings, so to speak, that I was born when I was and get to live in this time, in this place, when my decisions are my own and my life is mine. I can't thank my parents enough for enabling me to tell the bullshit from the worthwhile, and to have opinions of me own without falling for the 'everybody's doing it' trends and popularity contents. This book reminds me of how happy I am that I'm a stubborn, contrary bitch.
I couldn't get past the third chapter. I tried. It wasn't at all "provocative" - apprently you CANT judge a book by its cover. I was thinking it would be witty and fun. Yeah, no. It's not. I'm not much of a feminist, and I'm newly married and I just couldn't get into it. It all seemed like harsh generalizations strung along to form paragraphs that pretty much just bashed modern-women. At least that's my take. I tried to keep reading but it sat on my nightstand for weeks, untouched, so back to th...more
Should have been called "The meaning of white, middle-to-upper class straight American wife." Because really, who else even counts? Interesting other than that, though.
A good discussion on modern women and their role in marriage. I set down the book half-way through because I was starting to feel radical/feminist/oppressed. The ideas in the book might be a bit radical, but also seeds of truth. For example, the commercial I saw a few days ago where the woman marries a man because of his awesome kitchen faucet, or how a friend's husband complains about cooking every day because he's in between jobs at the moment and his wife is taking on the role of bread winner...more
every woman who is married or who is getting married MUST READ THIS BOOK! absolutely amazing, somewhat infuriating. the best women's studies book i've ever read.
Well researched but some chapters are a bit dry; still a provocative book that looks at why intelligent competent women (and their men) slip into conventional roles.
As someone who was divorced and remarried I take the meaning of Wife very seriously. This book got my mind all tied in knots and unwound again.
Great look at wives in culture, and very provocative. Does not have good 'solutions' or tie things together, but still worthwhile.
I like this book and wish I read it before I got married, right when I got engaged. It articulated many of the things I was feeling but was completely unable to express. I also liked the fact that while she could have made this an extremely angry and anti-man manifesto, she was very forgiving of the male gender, leaning towards a definition of wife that was free of gender at all.
However, I didn't like the cover, it makes it look like a chick-lit novel.
However, I didn't like the cover, it makes it look like a chick-lit novel.
An interesting look at how marriage relates to women. Is the institution of marriage still relevant?
Appears to be well-written and well-researched, but about two-thirds through I couldn't take any more. Apparently the implications of the word and position "wife" lead to confusion and dissatisfaction for the majority of women. Is their any value for us to read of the plight of the wife as an abstract figure? Each person is different, whether her struggles come from her submission to a husband or desire to maintain an independent identity but be married. By lumping all women (or wives) into one...more
Not the best book on the market exploring this topic, in fact, its not even entirely devoted to the topic but more of a shallow commentary on feminism. It could have used a lot more focus. The most provocative thing about the book is its cover.
This book is a rather sluggish comentary on the social, sexual, historical and economic viewpoint of wifehood.
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“There is no singular meaning of wife. That is the point. That is its meaning. To see the wife fully through a multi-faceted lens is one of the central challenges facing society in the twenty-first century. To do this, new scripts are required that employ wife as a verb and as a gender-neutral concept. These are essential if we are to create necessary new narratives, new ways of living as women and men together.”
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Jun 08, 2009 10:20am